Countable \(\pi\)-character, countable compactness and PFA (Q1709048)

In what follows, all topological spaces are assumed to be regular. A family \(\mathcal{V}\) of non-empty open subsets of a space \(X\) is said to be a \textit{\(\pi\)-base} of a point \(p \in X\) if for every open neighbourhood \(U\) of \(p\) there is some \(V \in \mathcal{V}\) such that \(V \subseteq U\). The \textit{\(\pi\)-character} of \(p\), denoted by \(\pi \chi(X)\), is the smallest infinite cardinal \(\kappa\) for which every point \(p \in X\) has a \(\pi\)-base of size not larger than \(\kappa\), and the \textit{hereditary \(\pi\)-character} of \(X\), denoted by \(h \pi \chi(X)\), is the smallest infinite cardinal \(\lambda\) for which every subspace \(Y\) of \(X\) satisfies \(\pi \chi (Y) \leqslant \lambda\). The \textit{tightness} of a space \(X\) is the smallest infinite cardinal \(\kappa\) such that for every \(p \in X\) and for every \(A \subseteq X\) such that \(p \in \overline{A}\) there is some \(B \subseteq A\) with \(|B| \leqslant \kappa\) satisfying \(p \in \overline{B}\). If a space \(X\) has countable hereditary \(\pi\)-character, then \(X\) has countable tightness, and it is well-known that for compact spaces these properties are equivalent. In the paper under review, the author establishes that, if one assumes the the Proper Forcing Axiom (\(\mathbf{PFA})\), then countably compact subsets of spaces with hereditary countable \(\pi\)-character are closed. The context of this result is the one given by an old question, posed by \textit{M. Ismail} and \textit{P. Nyikos} [Topology Appl. 11, 281--292 (1980; Zbl 0434.54018)] which asks whether spaces with countable tightness are \(C\)-closed; a topological space is said to be \textit{\(C\)-closed} if every countably compact subset is closed.